Yuyami
by Frectozhae
Summary: When the Hokage is murdered during the night, Naruto is adrift in the world. He'll need the skills and abilities to confront the future and what better way than to join a group of outlaws?
1. An Hokage's Farewell

A Hokage's Farewell

The night was falling fast on the dormant Hidden Village of the Leaf, Konoha. The inhabitants of the village were mostly asleep, with the occasional drunk exception stumbling through the streets. The leaf ninja slept on both their ears, with no fear of war or of a surprise attack. Ever since the attack from the Kyuubi seven years ago, the situation between the five big Villages had stabilized in a grudging peace. While Konoha and Suna were allied on paper, everyone knew they were not a big fan of the other. On the other hand, Kumo and Iwa both hated the leaf village with passion, but all of the Villages knew that another Shinobi war would only weaken them and open them to the threat of the smaller villages, always hungry to take the main ones' place.

It explained the sight of the Hokage, the Village's leader and their strongest shinobi, walking down the streets. He was smiling down at a young kid who jumped in the air beside him, completely enraptured in his retelling of his day.

"… So then I walked up to the stand, and I talked to the man behind the counter. You should've seen him Old Man, he had almost as many wrinkles as you!" shouted the blond kid, his orange shirt and black shorts clashing with his gold locks.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, simply smiled at the young boy. The fact that anyone would actually attack this boy was unbelievable to him. He was aware of the view the grand majority of the village had taken toward Naruto. They were either completely stupid or blinded by heir hate. Only some had understood the real meaning of the word jinchuuriki. It wasn't just the civilians either. His ANBU had to arrest multiple genin and chuunin for attacking the young boy. He had to create a special brigade in the ANBU to watch over him. Hell, the council had discussions about the boy almost weekly. Those were almost always started by the civilian representatives. They always had the goal to pressure Hiruzen to not allow Naruto to enter the academy. Weirdly enough, Danzo always vetoed those propositions, citing that Naruto was a weapon that had to be used, not feared.

While Hiruzen didn't like the characterization of Naruto as a weapon, he understood his point. The kid had the strongest demon known to man sitting in his gut. He would have to eventually receive formal ninja instruction. He would need to be able to access this power, if only to protect the Village. Jinchuuriki were becoming ever more present in the ninja world. In fact, during the last war, Kumo was feared because of their jinchuuriki, B. There was also the case of Yagura, the new Mizukage. No, Naruto was going to have to learn how to use it, if only to be a deterrent against the enemy.

But before sending Naruto into the pain-filled way of the ninja, he would leave him to live his youth, explore his city, meet other kids, hopefully develop attachment to the city he would one day have to defend. There was no urgency, and robbing the boy of his childhood could do more damage in the long term.

They arrived at the beginning of Naruto's neighborhood. He could see from the corner of his eyes the faces of the village's multiple crooks, drug dealers and other parasites that lived in this part of the town. He had half a mind to send his ANBU to arrest them, but he also knew that this wasn't the time for that. Arresting a couple of petty bandits was useless and a waste of his ANBU's time.

So while they neared the park, he ground his teeth and refrained from breaking his promise if only to clean out the filth out of the city.

Naruto ran ahead entering the park with a big whoop. Hiruzen winced, the sound had probably woken up some of the neighbors up. He looked around swiftly, and relaxed once he saw that the area was mostly shops and restaurants, with very few houses.

As he entered the park, Naruto was already sitting in his balancing chair, waiting to be pushed like the other kids were by their parents.

Hiruzen walked up to Naruto noting absent-mindedly that the park was pretty silent. In fact, excluding the couple of underworld criminals they passed, not a single soul could be heard or seen.

It puts the Hokage on his guard enough to make a discrete signal to his ANBU captain following him around. They would check over the neighborhood and report directly to the Hokage. Satisfied with this plan of action, the Hokage pushed the squealing child on the chair, his eyes looking dearly at the kid having fun in front of him. It was honestly endearing to his heart to see such a young kid completely innocent, finding fun in such a small thing as being pushed on a balancing chair by his grandfather figure.

The boy represented exactly the reason why he had fought all these years, and come back from retirement to continue as the Hokage. This innocence, a happy child such as he, was deserving of all the attention he could get. This was the face of someone who hadn't yet been traumatized by the horrors of the war, and as such, validated everything he had ever done. For people to be able to exist free of all of these memories made everything worth it. Protecting the Village had been the hardest job he had ever done, but also the most fulfilling. Even with all the ramblings of trouble, he was happy. Happy that his people were prospering and happy.

Lost in his thoughts, he felt too late the other presence in the park, its familiarity almost hurting the Hokage. Before he could utter a warning sound, a horribly familiar sword pierced his back, surging through his stomach on the other side. The shadowy man ripped the sword out in a clean stroke and fazed back to the darkness where he disappeared, his sadistic grin shining for a second in the moonlight.

Hiruzen wobbled on his feet, his hands clutching his now gaping wound. Blood sprayed on his robes. It didn't take long for Naruto to become aware of the Hokage's wound. He began to panic, demanding to know what went wrong and what he could do to help. The Hokage fell to the ground, his back crashing smoothly on the grass. He could already feel the numbness beginning to invade his mind, his body shaking from the weakness he now felt. Weirdly enough, the pain of the first impact with the blade had mostly disappeared, leaving place to a calming sensation. The stab must have cut something important.

He knew death was upon him.

However, before leaving he had to talk to Naruto one last time. The crying child was standing in shock beside him. He couldn't stay here. He would have to leave. He always knew the effect his death would have on the village. He could see it happening from here. His killer would never be found, and even if he was found, there was no one in the Village that could pose much of a threat to the man. There was also no one that could replace him, other maybe than Danzo. With him killed in the middle of the Village, the population would all but beg for a more militaristic Hokage. He knew that the peaceful Konoha he loved so much was all but gone already.

His killer knew that. He was way too intelligent to not know the consequence of his actions. He had no idea what he had to win by provoking the creation of a powerful Konoha, but this man schemed and was the brightest of the bunch.

No, the future was pretty bleak for Konoha. And Naruto would feel the worst of it. Danzo would train him, break him and create another one of his emotionless robots in his service, only he would now have the strength of the Kyuubi behind him. This wasn't something the world was prepared to handle any day soon. Especially not the young boy in front of him.

So as Hiruzen choked on his blood, his respiration becoming harder each time, he raised a shaking hand in the air, grabbing Naruto's hanging hand.

"N-Naruto" he rasped out, "Y-You must leave t-this village behind you. Run, go out and don't come back. Promise me only to become the strongest shinobi you can." He made a few handseals, making a big scroll appear beside him. "Here, take this scroll; when you are ready, open it. Never forget your roots and where you came from. Never let your will of fire burn down, no matter how bad everything looks," his breath was now a whisper, "Godspeed my son."

Naruto stared at the Hokage's face for a couple of seconds before nodding, his face still completely white. He then vanished from Hiruzen's vision, probably running toward the gate. It would be closed at this hour, but that had never stopped Naruto. He had done what he could to influence the future of this Village before his death. He only hoped that Naruto would be fine out there. The outside world wasn't the exactly best place for a boy like him to grow up in. But he had faith that with the tools he had just given Naruto, he would come back to Konoha as a strong and honorable Shinobi.

Faith. It had saved him in his darkest times and in his darkest of them all, he would find comfort knowing that his Will of Fire would continue burning even if someone tried to put it out with bucket loads of water.

And for that he was grateful. He let himself go, welcoming death with open arms. As the darkness took him, he turned is mind toward the Ones that came before him, wondering if they would greet him as one of their own.


	2. Escape From Konoha

**Escape From Konoha**

Naruto ran like a bat out of hell. The blond boy didn't even look back, a frantic feeling in his heart as he fled towards the unknown, leaving the only person that had ever cared about him dying on the ground. He had so wanted to scream at the old man, to tell him that he would stay by his side, that he would get some help. However, the boy knew as he looked inside the man's eyes, that he was too far gone for any help to save him.

This wasn't like the times he had told Naruto firmly, but still kindly to go back home after he had gotten into trouble again. Those times he had been able to argue, he had felt the order wasn't final and he felt the place for him to talk. However, when Naruto looked on the ground tonight and saw the old man laying there, a pool of blood growing from the wound in his abdomen, all of his desires to rebel and to argue had died. When the old man had told him to escape from the city, he knew that this wasn't a light recommendation. No, this was the Hokage, the leader of the Village, the most powerful shinobi in said Village, that commanded him to escape.

Naruto couldn't bear to think about the man dying, but he knew that there was no hope. He had seen a thug get stabbed in an alley close to home one day. The way the light had simply faded away from his eyes was simply unmistakable. He knew the Hokage would die, he had felt the man weaken. Most importantly, he had felt his peacefulness at the idea of dying. He had felt his worries about the future, but he had also felt the faith he had just put on him.

Naruto realized that with his dying breath, the Hokage had just given him a mission, the most important mission he would ever have in his life. He had never been initiated as a ninja yet, as he was simply too young to be put in the academy. However, the Hokage had been right in one thing; he had the desire to become one. He knew he lacked the skills and any knowledge to become a real shinobi, but the Hokage had just given him a mission. On his life, on his honor, he would make it happen. He would survive the night, find a way to escape Konoha and get stronger and better. He would become the man the Hokage wanted him to become. He would continue the legacy of the Third Hokage, even if that meant he had to leave the Village behind him.

The blond boy turned into an alley he knew, wasting no time to climb the fence at the back of said alley. He jumped the fence with all the grace of a distraught six years old. He then proceeds to climb the flight of stairs that led straight into the deserted building he knew was a frequent hiding spot for gangbangers and the likes. Paying no attention to the crooks and other small time criminal living in the building, he flew up another flight of stairs, reaching a window that he opened forcefully with a shoulder push. This wasn't the first time he had been here, often using this as an escape route when he pulled a prank on someone close by. He could hardly reach the window still, but with his momentum, he managed to jump high enough to stand on it. He then let himself fall outside, landing on the small balcony right outside of the window. From the balcony it was a short climb to reach the top of the building.

Once he reached the top of the building, Naruto stopped moving, breathing harshly, his eyes filled with tears of rage and fear. He shook his head, drying the tears from his face. He looked at the peaceful Village from his position, at the face of the Hokage both past and...well, all past now. He took a mental picture of this view, of the Village he had so much love for even though it hated him. Even with all of its problems, it was still his home, and it hurt Naruto to know that he had to leave it. This was the last time he would be a civilian of Konoha. After tonight, he would be homeless for good, erring in the roads of the Fire country to find himself a new place.

He saw the face of the Hokage on the rocks, overlooking the Village as he always did. Naruto raised his fist in the air, looking at the rock figure with tears in his eyes and determination in his voice, "I will make you proud. Just you watch, Old Man. One day, I'll be back." He promised this to himself as much as he did to the face on the cliff.

After a few moments of silence, he let his fist drop to his side and took a deep breath. He had no time to waste. He had to flee the Village before the Old Man was found dead. Once the Hokage would be found dead, the Village would close up like an oyster. No, he had to escape before that.

Naruto knew of three ways to exit the Village. The first was almost impossible, as it would require him to climb the walls of said Village to escape. The walls were towering and patrolled with guards. Naruto didn't even know how to do the things ninja did, so he couldn't very well stick to any surface.

The next passageway was almost worse. It wasn't impossible to pass through because of the physicality of the ordeal, but he wouldn't be able to go through anyway. It was the main gates of Konoha, the gates that were guarded by a whole team day and night. Escaping through there wasn't exactly something Naruto could see happening, unless he found some way to distract the guards by the gate. Even then, he would be in full view of the guards on the wall. No, he had to escape another way.

Fortunately, while Naruto didn't fully know the complete layout of the city, he knew of one aspect better than most. He knew perfectly well the criminal and general low-life parts of the city. He had picked up on a few tricks while hanging around some of the least respected men in Konoha. He had learned of one route that led straight out of the village. The tunnel was completely unknown to the authorities as it wasn't used that much anymore, but some guys in Naruto's buildings often used it for clandestine shipping of products.

Naruto hopped off the roof onto a small balcony, and from there leapt off. As soon as he hit the ground, he started into a full on sprint once more. He quickly reached the less traveled places of Konoha, the district that had been most destroyed by the Kyuubi and that lacked the financial support of the many guilds and the council to finance its reconstruction. For this reason, it quickly became the neighborhood where all the petty thieves and such lived. Most civilians would have had doubt entering the premises at this time of the night, and rightly so. However, Naruto had lived in that part of town all his life, and was used to the casual violence of it.

He ran from alley to alley, passing through many destroyed buildings. He finally reached his destination, an old abandoned warehouse. He entered the building carefully. He knew that this was still used as a transaction tunnel for illicit products, and while he wasn't afraid they would attack a kid like him, criminals were often unstable and unpredictable.

Naruto reached what had once been a storage room. He could see a hatch on the ground, grossly hidden away with a cloth. He opened the hatch and climbed down the stairs in the tunnel. It was only big enough so a normal person would have to crawl, but Naruto's size as a six-year-old meant that he could still run while have his back a bit tilted.

He ran in the dark for a good ten minutes, hearing nothing but the sound of his own breathing. He was starting to panic inside when he finally reached a wall, or rather hit it straight on. He felt around for the ladder and climbed back up, opening another hatch.

The light blinded him for a second, before he blinked and adjusted to it. He looked around to see, with a small amount of satisfaction, that he was well outside the village; the walls could be seen in the distance. He allowed himself to smile a little at his feat before a soul-crushing reality fell upon him.

He was alone in the world now. He had to survive all by himself. He had nobody and nowhere to go to.

Truly, the boy never felt as abandoned as he did now.

Letting himself fall on the ground, the blond boy started to cry, sobs erupting from his mouth as he let the emotions of the night rise to the surface all at once.

 **A/N: Hi guys! Long time no see! It's been a full year since I've touched any of my stories and damn, a lot of things changed in that year. I won't bore you for details, but let's say I had pretty good reasons to disappear from the site like that.**

 **But I'm back for now at least. I now have about 60k of the story written down, but it all needs to be updated and redone. Good thing is that I planned the whole story, or at least, most of it. Bad thing is that I'll have to take down all pother chapters after this one as they all need more work on them. I gloss over some important events and I have to take some time with each situation to make the story a bit more fleshed-out. Hopefully, real life won't come back to kick me in the balls again, but really who knows.**

 **This should be a pretty interesting story, it's pretty outside of the box, I don't think I've read another story where these events happen. Maybe** ** _Hakumei_** **which is a pretty big inspiration for the characterization of future characters, but I digress.**

 **Hope you liked it, leave a comment or shoot me a PM, I want to know what you think!**


	3. Surprise Attack

**Howdy-ho, readers! I'm AuthorOfTheUniverse2401, and I am this lovely story's beta reader! I am here to tell you that you've got quite an author writing for you! Over the past day or two, I have looked through this and the first two chapters fixing up the grammar and spelling to make this an overall more enjoyable read. After all, we wouldn't want another My Immortal on our hands, now would we? I won't keep you waiting too long, so without further adieu, here is the third chapter of Yuyami. Enjoy!**

Surprise Attack

Naruto looked at the dirt road along which he was travelling. It had been hours since he had fled the Village he had grown up in, and the feeling of solitude had started to settle. All of his life, he had told himself he was alone, that no one cared. Now, he understood that this wasn't true at all. There always had been one person, one man that gave his complete love for him, that made him feel a part of something greater.

The only person that ever acknowledged his existence as something more than an inconvenience was dead. He was truly gone.

He felt the crushing sadness rise once more inside of him. His face was crisping up to cry once more, but his eyes refused to well up with tears; he had no more to shed. His hands clenched tightly into fists as he continued to walk along the road aimlessly.

Naruto always known that the ninja life was one of danger and that people often were killed. He had already seen dead men a couple of times when rival gangs would have it out in the open close to his house. Yet death was still a strange concept that he didn't get.

He now understood the feeling of loss, like his whole life had just died with the man. The pit that had created in his stomach had only worsened as he realised he would never be able to look in the old man's crinkly eyes.

He stopped his mind from going back to thinking about all the times the man had cared for him. This wasn't the time to take pity on himself. He was on the last mission the Third Hokage would ever give a Konoha ninja, and he couldn't bear the thought of failing the old man that gave him so much.

He had successfully escaped Konoha, but now the hard part was coming. Where should he go? He didn't know anything else except what he had picked up from smugglers. He knew that there was a town close by, but he had no idea where it was or how to get there. He was lost, stranded on the side of the road in the middle of the night.

With a sigh of desperation, Naruto sat on a nearby rock. There wasn't anything in the area that could help him, like a sign of something. He also knew he couldn't stay on the road indefinitely, or he would be found out sooner or later. The Hokage's body had probably already been discovered, so he figured they would send out search parties sooner rather than later.

However, he was really hesitant to enter the forest, as dark as it was that night. He would surely get lost in there and who knew the dangers that were coursing in the forest, or even here? He could be mauled to death by wild animals, he could even be killed by evil men.

Naruto, who had dreamed of seeing the world all his life, who had dreamed of a life of excitement and of battles, realized that the real world wasn't anything like the stories the Hokage had told him. There wasn't any hero in the real world, there wasn't anyone that would come and save him if he was in trouble. Naruto realized all at once the harsh, cold reality. He could get killed at any moment, and he had to count only on himself to survive.

Fear wasn't a new emotion for Naruto. He was still afraid of most of the adults in Konoha, but never had he felt fear that almost oppressed him, that was suffocating and left him paralyzed. The idea of death being all around him was terrifying for most adults. So for Naruto, this was simply too much to take in at once.

He stayed on the rock, sitting down, his hands shaking with fear as he looked around himself in the dark, panic starting to rise through his being.

Eventually, the sounds of laughter came to his ears as the sounds of people walking approached. Naruto gasped as the panic that had bubbled inside started to burst through. He looked frantically at the forest in front of him, isolating the sounds as coming from behind the barrier of trees in front of him. The sounds were harsh, as if the people coming through the forest didn't particularly care if someone heard them.

A sudden thought crossed his mind. If he was to get killed or captured and sent back to Konoha, the least he could do was to make sure the scroll the Old Man gave him didn't fall into the enemy's hands. For all he knew, this was the man that killed the Hokage coming back to finish the job. No, Naruto had to make sure to take care of the legacy the Old Man had given him.

He stood up, and with haste he ran to the other side of the road, taking the scroll from his shoulders. He threw the scroll over the lowest branch so that it wasn't immediately visible. With that done, he walked back to his position on the rock, a determined look on his face. The fear was still there, but another feeling had arrived, a feeling of purpose.

Finally, a group of men crossed the trees, their clothes leaving no doubts left in his mind. From the rusted weapons and weary armor, to the growing beard and dirty skins; they were obviously bandits, and not rich ones at that. He felt a bit relieved, as this wasn't something new to Naruto, who frequented the worst projects in all of Konoha. The man in the front stopped when he saw the young boy sitting alone by the road. He smiled at his brothers of crime, his teeth shining in the dark.

"Hey there, kid. You here alone?" he asked Naruto, his hand resting on his blunted short sword, prepared to defend himself in case this was a ninja plant. Those fuckers had begun to train their little killers young in the wars and more than one bandit had fallen under their skills.

"Hey, I asked you a question runt," added the man, a bit of anger coming in his voice. Naruto shook a bit before throwing his best impersonation of the look the old man used to give to the criminals living in Naruto's neighborhood. His threatening look was obviously not on par with that of the Hokage as all three men started to laugh. The man in front started to walk up to Naruto, a sinister grin on his face. With a quick backhand that Naruto never saw coming, he slapped Naruto, sending him straight to the ground.

"When I ask a question, I expect an answer, get it brat?" he said, his grin becoming even scarier for Naruto.

The boy picked himself back up, holding back tears. After the horrible night he had just lived through, this was the straw that broke the camel's back. He felt defeated. He couldn't do anything against these men, even if they were lowly criminals. What a failure he was that he hadn't even been able to make it to the next town. What would he tell the old man? That he had failed because of some assholes on the side of the road? He couldn't disappoint him like that.

He stood back up. He started to put his hands together, like he had seen the teacher at the ninja academy teach the students to do. It had never done anything for the boy, but maybe this time it would be different.

The men stopped laughing immediately, drawing their weapons from their sheaths and tensing up for an attack. The leader let out a sigh, "Shit, this kid is one of them."

The big man that was on the right gave two swings of his weapon in front of him, a small grin appearing on his face, "We should kill him before his friends come looking for him."

The last of the three was a smaller man, and Naruto could hear the nervousness in his voice. "Why not just disappear into the forest? We could be gone in the time they get here, and every one would be fine!"

The leader shook his head, "No, they would catch up to us instantly. We're going to maim him so that when his people find him, they'll have to transport him to the hospital."

Naruto followed the conversation. The now familiar panic started to rise through him again as he tried to make something happen with the different positions he put his fingers through. It had to work! He had seen some black haired boy make those signs then let out fireballs the size of houses.

The leader didn't hesitate. He took two steps toward Naruto, his eyes devoid of any compassion. Naruto was visibly shaking, pouring all his energy in trying to make something happen to the man. He raised the weapon before the shaking child when a small blade entered his throat, effectively ending his life. Naruto flinched back in horror, the blood pouring out of the wound reminding the poor boy of scene where the Hokage had lost his life.

The leader stumbled for a second while the other two watched, horrified, before he fell to the ground, dead. As soon as the body hit the ground, the sound broke the other two men out of their horrified trance and they started to shout defiantly about gods and death and other ramblings Naruto didn't truly understand.

A single man walked out of the dark, his face severe and hard. His strong body moved in a manner that showed strength and when the man stopped a couple of feet before both bandits, they flinched at power and gravity the man commanded.

"You will leave the area right now; this is your final warning."

The air stilled when the man finished his sure statement for about a second before the bigger of the bandits roared and rushed to the man, not even bothering with weapons, flinging fists in his direction. The man slid into a hard stance and blocked both fists with his forearms.

Naruto watched, his eyes growing bigger and rounder each second. The big bandit's fists were the size of his head and the man had blocked them as easily as if they had been flies.

The man spun around launching a kick directly his opponent's stomach, folding him in two. Not wasting any time, the man launched a strike so fast Naruto couldn't see it at the other's neck. The bandit crumbled, his neck bent in a weird shape. When the man turned back to the smallest bandit, he couldn't find anyone. The man had fled when the brute had charged the newcomer, using the distraction to save his life.

The man relaxed out of his stance, and suddenly seeming smaller and less impressive to Naruto, he approached the boy.

The man's face brightened into a smile. "Hello, are you alright? I'm sorry you had to see this; death is really a horrific thing. Say, are your parents anywhere close-by?"

Naruto just shook his head, not wanting to open his mouth. He didn't trust himself to talk and not vomit all of his day's food. Today had been a rollercoaster of emotions and after thinking this was his end, he really thought he would be sick.

The man stayed silent for a while, just standing there, thinking. Naruto shivered, the night was getting cold, and his sweat from his earlier run stuck to him. The man put a comforting hand on his head and crouched down to his level.

"Do you have anybody that can take you in? Maybe some relatives or some friends?" tried the man once more. Naruto shook his head again. The man looked torn for a couple of seconds before finally smiling gently at Naruto.

"What's your name kid?" he asked, his smile kind and affectionate. Naruto, for no reasons other than instinct felt he could trust the man. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"Alright Naruto, my name is Ishi, I'm a merchant from Kitohui. Where are you going?"

Naruto shrugged, "Anywhere that can teach me how to get stronger." He had no idea where to start.

The man appeared to be surprised by Naruto's answer, "Why do you want to become strong? You are young, you don't have to worry about that until much later in your life."

Naruto shook his head. "I was given a mission by...a precious person. I need to become strong because I need to protect everyone else from what happened to him." His voice broke off at the end, sadness engulfing him once more.

Ishi nodded, his eyes full of understanding. He had wrongly assumed this was a normal kid, but this not the case. The sadness and loss in the boy's eyes reminded him of the looks he used to see in Iwa on the face of the trained ninja. This wasn't the look of some lost child. This was the look of someone that had their childhood ripped from them and would never get it back.

An idea popped in to Ishi's mind and immediately he knew this was the right decision. It would be hard to convince his wife, but he was sure she would eventually see it his way.

"Naruto, I have an offer for you," he began, weighing his words carefully. "I'm actually a trained ninja, and as such I know a thing or two about being strong. The thing is that I now own my company and I can't escort all the shipments myself. Plus, always hiring ninjas to guard them in my place is starting to get really expensive. I started to train my daughter in the ninja arts, but I think it would be better if there was someone else than her out there. So what I'm proposing is training and a job when you're ready. You'll live with me and my family and work for my company at a decent wage."

Naruto's eyes went wide. This was more than he had ever hoped. This was an opportunity to actually become strong and to work for the man that had just saved his life. The man had just proposed a purpose and a destination for Naruto, two things he clearly lacked.

"If you don't want to, I can always drop you off in any city you'd like. It's no skin off my nose," said Ishi, his eyes showing concern for Naruto.

The boy shook his head. "No, I'll go with you," he insisted.

Ishi stood back up, a smile on his face. He offered his hand to Naruto, who took it gladly, and led him back to his caravan. Naruto broke away and grabbed his scroll from the tree he had hidden it, causing Ishi to give him a strange look before shrugging it off.

As the two reached the caravan, Naruto, for the first time that night, started to feel better. Things were finally looking up, and he hoped he would be able to keep it like that.

 **A/N: Hello all, welcome back to Yuyami! As you've seen, we have a wonderful new beta reader! He is incredibly helpful and I wanted to thank him for his work!**

 **Now this chapter sets up the next arc, and while necessary, wasn't the most exciting ever. Alas, these chapters have to be there to keep the story flowing and the characters evolving.**

 **As always, comment or hit me up in the PM if you have a comment or anything!**

 **PS: Thanks to LazyVulpes for the head's up about the screwed up chapter, dunno what happened.**


	4. New Beginnings

New Beginnings

Naruto and Ishi walked on the dirt road side by side. The man tried at first to pick up a conversation, but Naruto kept quiet, not reacting to any stimuli. Ishi sagely let it go, leaving them in a comfortable silence as both walked towards the near town of Krimichi, a small settlement where Ishi's family stayed.

The man was fairly nervous. He had gone to Konoha to make an express delivery to one of his suppliers only to find the whole village shut down. He had been questioned by the guards at the entrance, but they quickly let him go when it was apparent he had no idea what happened. He overheard that someone important had been killed straight in the middle of the village and that the whole city was in uproar. He left quickly, not wanting any part of that. He wasn't someone that was prone to follow drama everywhere. He preferred his quiet life.

The guards had been clear on one thing without saying it: everyone was probably best to stay clear of Konoha for the time being.

Now, he was coming back to his wife and daughter with another kid. He could already see the disapprovement in his wife's eyes, the tightening of her lips and her curt tone. She would absolutely not agree to welcome this random child into their home. Ishi couldn't exactly fault her. He wasn't always home and she had to raise 3 kids by herself. Now this one was obviously damaged goods and Ishi didn't even know his last name!

It didn't really matter, he told himself, shrugging away the image of the stern woman he loved. She would eventually see that he was right to bring the kid home. After all, what could he do? Let the kid rot on the side of the road to get killed by looters or worse? He couldn't condemn a poor child to such a life of misery.

He had pondered the option of getting him to Konoha, as they would welcome orphans pretty often as part of their policy of equal chances in their ninja corps, but with the current climate it wasn't the obvious choice.

Even then, something told him that the boy wouldn't have gone with it. The way the boy moved when walking, the jerky motions he made, the way he was watching carefully the barely visible underbrush of the surrounding forest; all of it told Ishi that he wasn't some lonely lost child. This was someone who didn't act his age. This wasn't a five or six year old child, this was a five or six year old adult.

Ishi had trained at the Iwa academy when he had been a boy, as per his father's wishes. He had passed the Genin Exam with flying colors, but had failed the corps evaluation. He hadn't been able to kill the man, even if it was an abject prisoner that had killed and raped people. He simply wasn't this type of guy. All of his friends had managed to complete the task. He had seen them change in a short time. The innocence was quickly lost to a sense of realism. The child in them had died because of the necessity of becoming an adult.

This child was everything but one. His innocence was gone, he could see it in his dull eyes and his red, puffy cheeks. Naruto had seen ugly things, uglier than what most people would be able to deal with at his young age. Only time would tell if he would be broken by the experience and become a senseless creature or a good man.

Ishi had seen the boy and understood something crucial in that moment; he could make a difference. Ishi had lost all of his friends to the war a long time ago, and even before then, they weren't his old friends, the schism between trained killers and a simple boy too big to connect truly.

In the distance, a light caught Ishi's eyes. Quickly, the spot of light transformed into a couple of lights, guiding the travelers toward them. He could already see the outline of the village in the dark. He shot Naruto a sideways look, evaluating the boy's feelings.

Naruto had the senseless face he had since they had met.

Ishi furrowed his brows. "This is the village where my family is staying. Only a small distance away before the sweet embrace of a bed!"

The boy didn't acknowledged the sentence, causing Ishi to sigh out loud. This was going to be harder than expected.

* * *

Naruto opened his tired eyes to the rays of sunshine lighting the room up in a yellow hue. He blinked rapidly, adapting to the new light in the room. When Ishi and him had reached the town, they had made it straight to the local hotel, a shitty building with creaky floorboards. Even the walls seemed shoddy and as if they would fall down at any time.

Not that he particularly minded at the moment.

Ishi had ushered him to bed, telling him that he would come get him in the morning to meet the rest of the family. Naruto had simply nodded before going to bed. He had assumed he wouldn't be able to sleep at all, but he had fallen asleep before even putting his head on the bed. Apparently the whole ordeal he had went through the day before had tired him so much he had simply passed out.

That was a good thing too, he would need all the energy he could get to meet Ishi's family. Naruto's relationship with people was always something of a weakness for the boy. Most of Konoha had either spent their time hating him or straight up ignoring him. The only ones that gave him any attention besides the Hokage were mostly the crooks in his neighborhood, and they were not exactly the nicest company to have around.

He was a bit nervous to meet new people. After all, he had no idea how to act with normal people. The only sort of normal guy he had any contact with was his super, and he was the bitterest man he had ever met. Especially since he was drunk most of the time.

Soft knocks on his door pulled him out of his thoughts. For a brief second, he imagined it was going to be Konoha ninjas, coming to take him back to the Village he had left. He chased the idea out of his head, knowing the probability was small that they were even aware that he had disappeared from the Village. Anyway, he couldn't really escape their grasp if they wanted to capture him, so it didn't matter if he answered the door or not.

He opened the door, letting a smiling Ishi through. The man looked like he hadn't slept one bit since they had arrived yesterday. However, his smile was genuine, and with a ping of pain, he was reminded of the warmth of the Hokage's smile.

"Sleep well?" Ishi asked, looking around the room and noticing the used bed.

Naruto yawned before nodding. Ishi gave Naruto another smile, apparently happy that the boy interacted with him, even as little as that was.

"I'm glad you're already up, we have to get downstairs for breakfast before starting to head back home in the caravan. Come, you'll meet Yomiko and Masako there."

Ishi turned around and left Naruto in the hallway, not waiting for him to follow. The blond boy quickly followed the man down the creaky stairs, nervousness becoming even more present each second. What if the wife didn't like him? Would he still be allowed in their house? And if the girl, Yomiko, hated him? Would Ishi abandon him here?

This wouldn't be the worst thing; it was still a better situation than in the middle of the wild. He would have to find someone else to learn from however, and that would take some pure luck.

His damning thoughts stopped as they reached the dining area, a place as cheaply built as the rest of the inn. Sitting at the furthest table was a couple of rough looking men, their grossly shaven faces showing scars that related of past fights.

The only other table used was in the front, where a woman of a certain age and a young girl were sitting. The youngest one talking happily and munching on food, while the oldest was listening, only offering non-committing answers. She was too distracted by watching the stairs like a hawk.

As soon as she saw Naruto and Ishi coming down the stairs, she looked down on Naruto's form. Her eyes narrowed and her face took a cold look. Naruto had seen that look many times in Konoha.

He would have frozen in the stairs or even fled under the icy stare if it hadn't been for Ishi's hand resting on his shoulder, like a warm reminder that he wasn't in Konoha anymore, and that he had the chance to make an impression, something he was never offered in Konoha.

He looked up to Ishi's face and saw the man's warm smile, "Don't worry, she's a bit stern, but she's a nice person, you'll see."

The encouragement was all Naruto needed to continue forward, a warm and fuzzy feeling in his stomach. He needed to be courageous, not only for his sake, but for Ishi's as well. The man had obviously taken a risk bringing him to his family. He couldn't let him down, not if the man counted on him. Just like he couldn't let the Hokage down. It simply wouldn't do.

He approached the table, a small audible gulp leaving his throat. The girl, who couldn't older than 9, finally stopped talking, seeing that her mother wasn't even pretending to listen to her anymore. She turned her head to the small boy that was approaching the table, her father behind him.

When Naruto reached the table, he hesitated, not knowing how to present himself. Fortunately, Ishi took the lead as he grasped Naruto's shoulder once more.

"Hey guys! Let me introduce you to the new member of our family, Naruto!"

The girl's eyebrows furrowed as she looked intently at Naruto, "New member of the family? Is he some cousin I don't know anything about?"

Ishi laughed, shaking his head, "Nah, he's going to train with you and he'll be our security chief."

The girl couldn't be more surprised if she had tried. Her eyebrows shot up her face, her mouth forming a silent O. She looked between Naruto and Ishi for a while, before starting to laugh really loud.

"This is really funny dad! How could a kid like him become our security chief? He looks like he would fall over if a gust of wind passed through here."

Now Naruto was determined to make a good impression, but he wasn't one to take insults lying down, "Hey there! I wouldn't talk if I was you, you look like you haven't eaten in a week!"

If there was one thing he had learned in the streets of Konoha, it was the art of trash-talking.

Yomiko's face became red as she sputtered an answer to Naruto. Ishi looked mortified that the children hadn't even taken a moment to know each other before insulting each other. However, dominating the table, the mother was almost crying in her laughter.

"I like this kid," she said as she wiped away a tear. Naruto heard that and smiled with warmth to the lady wearing a fully black robe. He took a seat at the table, and looked around. Ishi was looking a bit confused as to why his wife had already taken a liking to Naruto, and Yomiko was glaring daggers into him.

"So," said Ishi as they dug into the food, "tell us a bit about yourself Naruto."

Naruto froze for a second, before forcing himself to relax. It was pretty evident that questions were sure to come up eventually. It wasn't even like he had to lie about anything, just leave out the story about the Hokage dying. He was not even doing anything criminal.

"Huh…sure, I guess," he said. "What do you want to know?"

"Where are you from?" asked Ishi, secretly studying Naruto.

The boy shrugged. "I was born in Konoha, lived there my whole life."

Ishi nodded, it made sense. The only other town that was linked by the road he had found him on was Konoha. He must have gotten out before the whole Village had been shut down.

"Do you still have any family there?" asked Masako. Ishi could see that his wife had already taken a liking to the blond boy in front of them. He was pretty surprised about it, but the boy did have a small flame in him that was endearing and made him believe in him since they had met.

Naruto shook his head as he continued to eat, "I'm an orphan since I'm born, and my grand dad recently…passed." Naruto's face took an incredibly sad turn before it turned back to his normal self. Ishi was pretty impressed by the boy, he had a grip on his emotions better than some adults. He was obviously still shaken up and sad from the death of his grand-father.

"Then why aren't you in Konoha anymore?" asked Yomiko, not understanding that he didn't have anyone there anymore.

Naruto's face turned fierce, as determination became apparent in his eyes. A fire burning inside his being showed in his voice, "The old man told me to do something before he…yeah. He told me to become strong and that when I'd become one of the best, that I'd be strong enough to come back to Konoha and lead her towards the light. I can't betray his memory and his will. I will become the Hokage of that village one day."

A small smile appeared on Ishi's lips. This was what he had seen in Naruto. Konoha's famed will of fire. The boy would go far. He was confident he would be someone great. He discreetly looked to his wife who had an impressed look on her face. He had just convinced her that Naruto was worth it. If there was one thing she always liked, it was seeing drive in someone. It was the reason she had married Ishi, and the reason she was going to put Yomiko in a training regimen by her father. She wanted everyone to have this kind of drive.

Yomiko, unsurprisingly, was not impressed by the blond boy's declaration. She started to laugh once more. "How would a runt like you become Hokage?"

The boy narrowed his eyes at her. "I will become Hokage, you best believe it!"

She waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "I'll believe it when I see it runt." It was obvious Naruto was starting to get ticked by the dismissive remarks.

It took all of two seconds before Naruto and Yomiko entered a duel of wits with insults as complex as "just a baby" or "pretty like a pig". Ishi groaned internally; he hadn't thought about it. It was going to be a painful ride back home with both of them in the same carriage.

 **A/N: Hey guys! Here with another chapter of Yuyami! We are entering our first real arc and some action is going to happen soon, I promise! This story takes a while to set up, but once everything falls in place, I'm pretty sure you'll like what you'll see. As always, I want to give the biggest of shout out to my awesome Beta, AuthorOfTheUniverse2401, his help is always greatly appreciated!**


	5. Learning from the Man

**Learning From the Man**

Naruto was woken up the next day indelicately by Yomiko, who pushed him from his bed to the ground. Naruto was pretty confused for a couple of seconds, not really understanding how he managed to land on the ground while sleeping, until he looked up and saw Yomiko's triumphant smirk. He jumped up, but before he managed to say anything, she handed him a small bundle of clothes. Naruto took it in his hands, looking at the new clothes the girl had just given him.

The clothes had obviously just been bought. They had the same odor as the new clothes the Hokage would gave him. However, the style was completely different than what he was used to. Instead of a shirt and a pair of shorts, Yomiko had just given him a complete outfit. The top was a blue vest that looked vaguely similar to the one he would see the Konoha ninja wear. There were many pouches on the sides, probably to keep weapons in. The material was also extremely robust, evidently made to absorb shocks. The pants were looser and lighter, but had elastic ends for the leg of the pants to not fly and get in his way. Under the clothes were some black boots, the kind he would see the construction workers wear.

He looked at Yomiko in confusion, not really understanding why they would give him clothes like that. Yomiko simply rolled her eyes, "Don't you remember airhead? We told you yesterday while we were coming back in the caravan."

Naruto shrugged; he hadn't exactly been paying attention to what the girl had been saying to him, electing to ignore her. She was older and was wittier than him, but ignoring her enraged her more than if he answered her.

She sighed, "I swear, I have no idea why you're even here," she said under her breath, just loud enough for Naruto to hear, "This is your training garb. Keep it clean and take care of it, it's your only set. We start training in fifteen minutes, so get changed quickly and grab some food before heading out. You're lucky; dad has taken off work today so we'll have a full day of practical training."

Naruto gulped and nodded quickly, trepidation coursing through him. Naruto ran to the bathroom to get dressed quickly; it wouldn't do to be late on his first day of training. As he changed, he couldn't supress the smile that was forming on his face, the first real one he'd had in a long time.

This was exactly what he wanted. Training and learning would set him on the path that the Old Man had set him on. Naruto had no idea how much time it took to get better, but he wasn't telling himself any lies; there was a reason the Hokage had been so old. Being strong took some time, so he had no time to waste. Especially not if he wanted to become a Hokage before looking like the Old Man.

He rushed out of the bathroom, still finishing putting his top on. He got to the kitchen to see only Ishi's wife drinking some tea while looking at a magazine. She lifted her eyes to Naruto for barely a second before continuing to read. Naruto looked around, a bit confused as to why the others weren't there anymore.

"They are outside, getting ready to start," she said, her eyes never leaving the piece she was reading. Naruto thought that it must have been one hell of a magazine to be this absorbed in it. How could she have the patience to read so much?

He got out of the house quickly and saw Ishi and Yomiko a bit further away, on the top of a small hill. He started to run towards them, excitement taking over his body.

He reached them and grinned at both father and daughter. Ishi smiled proudly at him, while Yomiko only rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face.

Ishi cleared his throat, "Alright, I have already told Yomiko what she needs to work on today, so that I can take some time to initiate you to the normal training. Go on and train Yomiko, I'll come to see you when I'll be done here."

Yomiko nodded and silently jogged away towards the cover of the trees. "What is she going to do in the forest alone?" asked Naruto.

Ishi looked at his daughter running away, "She is going to practice her aim in our training ground for this effect. I'll show it to you when you're ready."

"Now, first of all, I want to say that if at any time you are not able to continue on, you should tell me to stop and I'll give you a break. You are quite young to begin your training, but you have more fire in you than me and Yomiko have combined."

Naruto nodded, all the while telling himself that he would never ask him to stop. After all, if he couldn't support the training, how would he be able to become as strong as he needed to be?

Ishi nodded, satisfied with the answer, "Alright then, let's begin. Generally, I won't be here each day to train you guys, only some nights and some mornings. That means that you have to set yourself a training routine that you can repeat. We separate our physical training in four parts: Conditioning, Taijutsu, Weapons, and Chakra Control. Today we will be concentrating on the first two and when you'll be a bit stronger we'll continue on the other two."

Naruto nodded, his mind already full of questions. The Third Hokage had tried to explain to him what chakra was one time, but he had zoned out immediately. It hadn't seemed important at the time.

"Alright, we will begin with the conditioning part. We don't want to exhaust you right now, that will come at the end. Right now is only a bit of warm-up. So just run around the clearing until you become a bit tired. It shouldn't take that long, especially at your age."

Naruto nodded and sprinted out, running the fastest he could manage. He was going to show Ishi what he was made of. He knew nothing of being a ninja, but running, that he was an expert in.

In Konoha, he had spent his entire childhood running amok; playing pranks on unsuspecting people and fleeing like the wind afterwards. It had become a second nature to always run. He very rarely got tired anyway so it was fun to be able to always go fast.

Eventually, after a while of running at his highest speed, he started to feel his breath hitch a bit. When he started to sweat for real he turned around, running toward Ishi.

When he arrived, Ishi was looking at him with wide eyes, his mouth a bit opened. Naruto cocked his head in confusion. Had he done something wrong?

"Naruto, are you alright?" asked Ishi with a strange voice. The man was staring at Naruto. The young boy started to feel a bit uncomfortable and shuffled his feet.

"Yeah, why?" he asked.

Ishi shook his head, "I must have been a saint in another life. I can't believe I'd find someone like you randomly on the road."

He kneeled down to Naruto's level, "You have more endurance than anyone I've ever met. The distance you just ran is further than Yomiko can do and she's been training for a while and is older than you."

Naruto perked up at that, "For real? This was nothing! I used to run at least three times that each day in Konoha."

Ishi chuckled under his breath, "Naruto, you're going to make a fine ninja."

Naruto beamed at the man. This was the first real compliment he had ever received from someone else than the Old Man. He decided in that moment that Ishi was becoming quickly one of his important people. One of the people he needed to protect at all cost.

Ishi smiled at the beaming, "Ready to continue training?" Naruto nodded happily.

"Okay, so in our training sessions I will show you how to fight," began Ishi, his face serious once more, "This is the style that is taught in Iwa. It is crucial that you master this style before you can even think of fighting other people for real. It is also important that you realise this is simply a basic style, you will have to build on it for it to become truly efficient."

Naruto nodded, itching to start to learn. He had seen Ishi fight with those goons, and he had to say, he was very impressed.

"Each Village have styles that are taught in the academy. Each of those styles are different and serves different purposes. For example, Kumo teach a style that uses fast paced attacks and speed."

"What does Konoha teach," asked Naruto.

Ishi shrugged, "I have no idea, I haven't trained or fought with a Konoha ninja in my life. Iwa's style is based on strength and durability. This is a straight up fighting style, a style that lets you stand your ground, endure hits and dish out important damage."

Naruto nodded, his eyes glistening in anticipation.

"For now," continued Ishi, "we'll make you learn the katas."

As Naruto started to copy Ishi's movements, he realised that the path to become stronger would be even harder than what he had imagined. While a normal person such a thought would have discouraged them, it only served to pump Naruto, a determined look in the eyes as he vowed to train every time he could.

* * *

(Three Months Later)

Yomiko fell on her back, panting. "I...hate…you…so…much," she said between breaths.

Naruto shrugged as he continued to deliver the fast punches to the tree he had taken to beat down for that day. It had been her idea to try and follow his training regimen for the day. He had told her she wouldn't be able to follow, but it had been her choice.

"How in the hell… are you able to continue?" she asked. Naruto smirked; this was really fun to see her knocked down a peg for once.

"I told you, I'm better at this than you," he said cockily, expecting the girl to jump back on her feet and try to beat him up. Try was the important word here; she had never been able to defeat him in one of their weekly spars.

To say that Naruto had taken the training seriously was like saying that the Hokage had been a bit old. From the moment Naruto was up until he went to bed, he was either training in some way or learning the theory about chakra and some general knowledge.

Yomiko didn't exactly have the same burning desire to train, preferring to concentrate on the studies and the chakra control that came to her naturally. That had meant that after a month of training, Naruto had managed to beat the girl in a spar and since then, the rift between their capabilities in straight up fighting was becoming more important each day. Naruto had gotten stronger, faster and especially could endure way more damage than Yomiko could even do. She had to evade all of his hits because it was a bit too much for her to tank.

While Naruto had taken very well to the fighting portion of his training, the rest had been a bit more difficult for him. He trained a lot with kunai and shuriken, but never managed to become more than correct at it. They either hit their target but lacked the strength to really do damage, or they outright missed. Ishi had said that sometimes things like that were harder on different people. Yomiko was pretty accurate, managing to hit the target most of the times. She often gloated to Naruto after he would rage and start throwing with force without really aiming.

She had even more munitions in that while Naruto was mediocre, but still passable in his throwing skills, he was a complete failure in his chakra control. She had managed to do the exercise to balance a rock on the top of her head the second week of Naruto's training and had since learned how to do it without even paying attention to distributing the chakra evenly. Naruto himself was a bit less efficient. He hadn't managed to balance the rock for more than two months, only getting it a couple of weeks ago. He still had to pay an inordinate amount of attention to the rock to keep it from falling on the ground.

Naruto finished with punching the tree, looking at his bloodied hands with a disinterested glance. He had discovered that injuries didn't exactly take on him, healing super rapidly. He had stopped caring about it for a while because it always healed before he really had to pay any attention to it. Ishi had scolded him a couple of times, but Naruto didn't really see the harm.

He looked at Yomiko who had managed to get up to her feet with difficulty, still heavy breathing. "Are you good?"

She nodded with a dismissive wave. She hated to be taken in pity by the younger kid.

Naruto shrugged before heading out towards the clearing. He had finished what he wanted to do in the woods anyway, and he was pretty tired himself. Anyway, it was almost time for lunch.

They headed back to the house. In the distance, they could make out a small caravan parked in front of the house. Naruto and Yomiko shared an excited look and they sprinted towards the house.

As soon as they reached the house, the front door opened, revealing a tired, but happy Ishi. Yomiko jumped into her father's arms squealing in joy while Naruto watched, a big smile on his face.

Ishi had been gone for almost a month. There had been some problem in one of the branches of his business in the Stone country. However, tensions had risen between Konoha and Iwa and he had been caught by the lock down.

The man put his daughter down on the ground, smiling at Naruto too, "Hey guys! How is the training going?"

"Really good! I'm way better than I was last time, I can probably beat you now Ishi! I've even managed to get the rock exercise!" said Naruto excitedly. Ishi shook his head at the boy's exuberance.

"Naruto, you will need a bit more than three months to beat me. Try me when it's going to be a year of training, then we'll talk."

Naruto shook his head, "Nuh Huh. I will be way stronger than you then. I promise you that in three months tops, you're going down," he finished, pointing at Ishi with his full determination.

Yomiko rolled her eyes with an exaggerated sigh. Naruto didn't pay her any attention. She was not doing it to be mean, they just liked to annoy the shit out of each other. It was a game they had perfected. It was pretty fun, it was almost like it would feel to have a big sister, he imagined.

Ishi shook his head in amusement, "Alright, let's make a deal. If I give you a jutsu right now, I'll only fight you when you master it. Deal?"

A jutsu? Naruto almost couldn't help himself, "Hell yeah!" he shouted, jumping up and down in his excitement. He had dreamed of the time he would get to learn a Jutsu! He had learned some basic stuff, like the escape from ropes one, but they were mostly useless or extremely specific. Maybe he would get to shoot giant Fireballs at people?

Naruto had once seen a ninja fight in the village. He didn't really remember who it had been that was fighting, but one had made a giant fireball, engulfing the other. He had dreamed of being that guy many times in the years to come.

Ishi chuckled, "Alright, calm down a bit. I don't think you'll be able to use it for now, it is substantially harder than balancing a rock on your head."

They stepped back outside, with Yomiko following, curious about the jutsu her father was going to show Naruto.

They went further from the house, as to not damage anything before her father stopped in the middle of the clearing. He brought his hands together and started to do fast handseals, too fast for Naruto to recognize them by sight. After he did the last hand seal, he put his hands to the ground, before a cloud of smoke surrounded him.

When the smoke dissipated, Ishi wasn't there anymore. He had completely disappeared.

Suddenly, hands erupted from the ground and grabbed Naruto by the ankles. Before the boy had even the time to emit a surprised sound, he was dragged to the ground, his whole body stuck underground with only his head sticking out. In front of him stood Ishi, a grin on his face, his hands in his pockets.

"So, how do you like the Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique? It's the only real jutsu that was taught in the Academy when I went," Ishi said smugly.

Naruto was deeply impressed; he didn't have the time to even react to the grabbing hands. He was completely stuck too; this would be great for his arsenal. If he caught someone with that, they were sure to not be able to fight anymore.

Naruto beamed at the man, "This is so awesome! Can you teach me right now?" he said excitedly.

Ishi shook his head while laughing, "I probably could, but I won't. There is three basic jutsu that are taught at the Academy before this one, and I believe that they need to be learned before going to anything else. You don't need to master them necessarily, they are not that useful in practice and every ninja knows them, but you'll learn to use your chakra better like that."

Naruto nodded; it made sense. If there was one thing that his training had showed him, was that skipping steps was more debilitating than helpful. He had tried to create some moves to incorporate into his fighting style after the first month, thinking that he would surprise the hell out of everyone. However, when he had tried it, he had eaten a direct hit from Yomiko who continued to press her advantages. Ishi had explained to him afterwards that he had broken his stance, leaving himself open to hits before even starting to make a move.

So if learning the other jutsu was what it would take, he would learn them in a record time and master this one. After all, he needed to become even stronger than Ishi, stronger than the Old Man if he really wanted to have revenge.

"But first," Ishi said. "Let's get you out of the ground."

Naruto had been so excited to learn more jutsu that he had completely forgotten he was buried up to his neck in the dirt. After a few more handseals, Ishi released him; or rather he launched him out of the ground. Naruto shot straight into the air and landed face first in the very earth that had trapped him.

He could dimly hear Yomiko laughing. Now why did she do that? If their roles had been reversed and she was the one getting launched out of the earth...no, he'd probably laugh too. Even now, he couldn't stop himself from smiling. Yomiko looked at him strangely.

"You're crazy, you know that, Naruto?" she asked.

He gave a thumbs-up in response. "You better believe it!"

Yomiko rolled her eyes. It was simply impossible to understand that boy sometimes - make that all the time.

 **A/N: Alright, things are going to start picking up steam in the next few chapters. Because of Naruto's young age and complete lack of training in basically anything, we are going to unfortunately have some time-skips. I could write a whole story about his training and the family life with Yomiko and Ishi, but honestly, I'm quite excited to arrive to what I have planned for you guys!**

 **Thanks again to the best, AuthorOfTheUniverse2401 for the excellent beta-ing and the general support!**

 **As always I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts!**

 **Until next time!**


	6. Interlude 1

**Interlude 1**

The coughing of the people assembled around the table was the only thing that pierced the heavy silence. That oppressive aura was only helped by the dimly-lit room's complete absence of windows. Even the air felt stale and dead. Nobody was really comfortable in the dark, not even those who were trained to embrace it.

Except one.

Danzo Shimura was simply one of Konoha's giants. His legendary service in the war under the Second Hokage's tutelage and as one of the Third Hokage's friend was taught to each child that was ever enrolled in the Academy. However, what most people didn't know was that his lesser known achievements were even more incredible, by the simple fact of their non-existence in the official files.

Danzo had, once Hiruzen had been promoted Hokage, installed a black-ops organisation in the Village. His reasoning had been sound, and the Hokage had immediately seen its use. As the Hokage's actions were to be in the light of day, known by all and scrutinized both for political purposes and for threat assessments by foreign leaders, Danzo's actions would be in the shadows, unknown by all and covertly hidden away.

Danzo had led the Root with an expert grip, leading the men only on the most dangerous missions possible. Missions where getting caught meant death and where failure was simply unacceptable were routine. They had saved Konoha more time than anybody would know.

So when the Third Hokage had been killed in the same city they were trying to protect, Danzo had been personally insulted. This was something he should have been able to prevent easily. Instead, his friend and probably the only person who knew exactly how much value Danzo was to the Village had been killed.

Danzo could easily recall the state the Village had been once the death had been publicly announced. The public was afraid, rightly so. Their hero, the one that should have been the Hokage, had been killed by the Fox not so long ago and now the Konoha legend, the Third Hokage had been killed on their own ground. With no one really able to protect them, they were beginning to feel unsatisfied from the Council's power and the ninja activities.

The Council had tried to immediately propose a replacement to the Third Hokage, but they had been laughed out of the room by most of the civilian representatives. Danzo had been the only ninja against the nominations himself, because he understood they were not people the Village needed right now. Jiraiya had been all but absent for the past couple of years.

Of course, Jiraiya had been Konoha's master spy, and was still as loyal as ever, but he was way more useful as the best spy in the Elemental Nations than as a glorified puppet for the Council. The other one had been so outrageous that he had only been able to keep the laugh out of his voice due to the incredible self-control necessary for anyone that had a long career in the black ops.

After the failed try of the obsolete council, the movement of anger had quickly become something more worrying. The first signs of the start of a revolution were making their appearance. As the signs grew into unrest in the street, his information he received from foreign powers was clear as day; If Konoha wouldn't quickly resolves the problems and the civil unrest, they would be facing a multi-front invasion from most of the Elemental Nations.

Determined to evade the fate of Uzushiogakure, Danzo knew only one thing could be done to give back the impression of power for outside forces. Still strong of his mission to protect Konoha at all cost, no matter the price, he decided to sacrifice the ideals of Konoha for its survival.

In an unprecedented coup, his Root members unveiled themselves to the light of day, and in a single night, gained control of the Village. He ordered a complete quarantine until everything would be done. Once the day came to Konoha and people started to revolt, he used his power over the Root to squash harshly all attempts to uprising, making an example of the rioters. That tactic left the protesters only two choices: to either submit to his power or revolt for real, not simply break things in the street and riot. They unanimously chose to revolt against tyranny.

However, Danzo had calculated everything to the smallest details. He had met first thing in the morning with the head of each clan, bringing them to the same room they were sitting now and had explained to them his role in the village. Most of them hadn't reacted with surprise, leaving Danzo to doubt the Third Hokage had been as tight-lipped as he had hoped.

The clans agreed with him on a single point. Konoha was to be saved, no matter what. They all took the decision together to sign the pact of the devil, as it could be called. The major clans in Konoha opposed the revolution, destroying all the hopes of the revolutionaries. Danzo organized a meeting where they voted him in power as the Hokage and then voted for the Hokage to have the sole executive and legislative power in the Village.

That had all been months ago, but only now was the Village ready to open itself up to foreign influences and to lift up the quarantine.

Many talked in Danzo's back about how he had orchestrated the whole thing. While he admitted the merit in the theory, he had finished with the full power over Konoha after all, the man hadn't been happy a second to do what he had to do. His martial rule was harsher than before, the peaceful village kicked up into a militaristic functioning.

The cough of the others in the room brought Danzo's attention away from his thoughts. He saw with satisfaction that every one of his Council members had arrived and were waiting on the man to begin the meeting.

"Let's get this meeting underway then," said Danzo, his passive face barely moving and showing completely no emotions.

Nods came from the table, but people stayed silent. They knew it was Danzo that would direct the conversation.

"Our first point on the agenda is the re-opening of Konoha to outsiders. I believe the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan have finally reached a plan?"

On Danzo's immediate left and right, the two men nodded together before the man on his left, Fugaku Uchiha stood, "the Hyuuga clan and the Uchiha have decided after a lot of deliberation that the best way for the Village to be protected would be with a partnership between the two clans. After all, while both our Dojutsu are efficient in detecting their subterfuge, they are different enough that only one of us would be easily tricked. As the two largest clans in Konoha, we have the manpower to ensure the security of Konoha."

Danzo only nodded once, "I agree. Uchiha and Hyuuga will have affectations on the outskirts of the city when not going on missions."

Shikaku Nara cleared his throat from his seat, opposing Danzo directly.

"Speaking about missions, sir, I was going to ask about when Konoha will be taking independent contracts."

Danzo shifted his eye to the incredibly intelligent Nara. He knew that whatever he was going to say, the man would be able to discern the real meaning, so he would be completely frank.

"Independent missions will have to wait longer, the time the Village takes to the new power in place. We are not in a place that we can allow to let crucial members of the city out. We will let the older genin team and the washed-up solo genin take the missions we will receive, as to show that we are still able to provide bodies for everyone's problem."

A murmur immediately rose from the room. Danzo could even see the Fugaku Uchiha, his closest ally; give him a side look, obviously wondering where the man was going with that.

Not one to let something go unsaid, Inoichi Yamanaka got up from his seat, indignation evident on his face, "They are going to die! There is no way a bunch of genin that are not considered for promotion for a long time are ever going to manage to do missions we would send whole chuunin teams. You are condemning them to sure death."

The murmur in the room could be heard growing. Every clan had members that were simply untalented in the ninja arts. They would stay a genin and after being a genin for more than 5 years, you were declared inapt for promotion and put in the reserve. You were basically only called when an extremely dangerous mission needed expendable personnel or when there was a sudden shortage in an important mission. The reserve rarely came back. What Danzo had proposed would essentially condemn some of their clansmen to certain death.

Danzo lifted his hand, and immediately the whispering died down. The clan leaders remembered clearly the legends and stories this man was responsible doing. The tale of the time he had fought with his trusted summon a full battalion of Lightning ninja and managed to get away in one piece.

He took his time to choose his words carefully, "I understand very well the position it puts you, as clan members. However, do remember you do not have any responsibility in this, as it is a decision I will be making alone. I also understand clearly the consequence of letting the reserve fight our contracts abroad. The loss of the reserve is going to be a hard-hitting blow, to be sure, but it is essential for the survival of Konoha. I could simply enact the order, but I will take the time to discuss its necessity with you."

"The need is twofold. First, we simply have no use for cannon fodder that can't fight their own battles. We are in a difficult position and the last time we were in war, we didn't allow anyone to cower behind the walls and simply act tough but never putting in a fight. Because let's not forget that our Hokage has been killed on our ground and our Jinchuuriki has been stolen at the same time. This, more than anything else that ever happened in our history, is a declaration of war. We cannot, will not, let that slide. The enemy is still unknown, but we are at war and our children need to be able to take care of themselves."

"Secondly, the reserve as we know it is going to be dismantled, the remaining ninja that will have done their missions will be graduated on the main forces once more. The reserve is now going to be what it should always have been, a defensive force that is always stationed here, not rejects from our society, but some of the strongest men and women sworn to protect our Village."

Danzo took a breather, seeing the effect of his words on the Council members. The Uchiha and the Hyuuga had already accepted the truth, they believed in strength in their core. He could see the Aburame still indecisive, but he didn't expect a fight. The bug-users clan typically didn't have anybody in the reserve for long as they tended to simply retire and become breeders for the clan. The Inuzuka would have a problem with it, they were fiercely loyal, but they understood the needs, and much like the Nara clan would, they would sacrifice a part of their moral code to do what must be done.

However, he could see the Akimichi and Yamanaka starting to get angry. Sadly, Choza and Inoichi were always more hot-headed than their teammate.

Danzo repressed a sigh of exasperation. It was too soon in his plan to tip his hands for the future of Konoha, but he couldn't let two of the three most beloved clans get angry with him and spark something. He would have to take a leap of faith and hope the Council would understand his vision. ' _For Konoha_ ' he reminded himself.

"I also have something else I wanted to announce, as it completes my plans for creating the strongest military force in the Elemental Nations. Starting next month progressively, we are going to completely change the education program in our city. The Academy will now be inaccessible by simple test and evaluation or recommendations. We are not going to condone the poor level of graduates the Academy churns out right now. As such, the bar to enter the school is going to be higher, and the people will be selected. We are going to have a training program of a full year in all schools across Konoha, regardless of the origin of the people. At the end, each promising recruits will be enrolled in the Academy while the others will resume school as normal with added training to at least give everyone an edge to defend themselves."

Danzo could already see the uprising that was threatening to explode in the room, only the Nara looking at him with curious eyes. He quickly followed, "Of course, there is going to be an exception for clan child or other recruit that manages to proves themselves in the field against another student."

Danzo could already see the tide cool down. As long as the clans kept their free pass, they would not make trouble.

At the other end of the table, Danzo was surprised to see the Nara nod his head in approval, "Yes, I understand. Instead of prioritizing quantity over quality, you will find each of the strongest potential in the population and will train them. Because of the lack of untalented people, classes will be able to go at a faster rate."

Danzo nodded; agreeably surprised the Nara had understood his goals completely.

"I would then like to add something to the plan," said Shikaku, "I want the evaluation to be based on separate skills and not a global evaluation. After all, we do have someone like Gai who is one of our best jonin, but almost cannot do any ninjutsu or genjutsu. For such people, I believe we should create a special division, to create experts in their field, but not in other fields."

Danzo thought about the words the Nara said for a bit. It made sense, if there was another Gai genius hidden in the village, he wanted them training and employed under him. They didn't lose anything by doing that and it would not significantly weaken Konoha's forces.

The leader of the Akimichi clan frowned his brows before talking, "What would that mean for our system of having genin teams under a jonin?"

"Nothing. There is evident value in them learning from skilled jonin of the villages as this is a practice that has been almost uniform in the Elemental Nations with the exception of the Bloody Mist. However, it will mean the graduates are going to be way stronger than what they are right now."

Danzo could see everyone agreeing to his idea. He knew they now understood exactly we he wanted to purge the reserve. The trick to looking strong wasn't to be an army of thousands upon thousands. It was to be a smaller army so capable; they could topple the numbers any day of the week.

Repressing a smile, Danzo started with his council to exactly define his plans for the reforms to the Academy. His plans for making Konoha strong again were well underway and he was happy with the result.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

 _(Unknown Location, Four months later)_

The man entered the room quietly, being sure not to disturb his boss. The man always hated to be woken up, especially to learn bad news. He tip-toed around the table where the rests of the previous' night dinner laid with a couple more bottle than was healthy.

Internally damning Jito who had won the game of straw to decide who went, the man approached his boss' bedroom.

Knocking with a soft knock, he gently called out for his boss, almost expecting to be killed in his place.

At his complete surprise, the door opened immediately, followed by a well-dressed man. The three piece suit was completely fitting and managed to accentuate an already pretty strong looking physique. His hair was slicked back, with a small curve to the right. The man's blue piercing eyes were as cold as a cold blade. The man looked positively intimidating. The messenger repressed a shiver before starting to talk in a stuttering voice,

"S-Sir, we have found him, s-sir."

The man whipped his head to look at him, his complete attention on him directly.

"You have finally found who has been starting to install a control over my territory? Is it that traitor Gato?" asked the man with his smooth and low voice. The messenger could hear the anger in the tone of the man.

"N-No, sir. Gato has apparently been respecting the deal you made. The one that is stealing from our territory is a newcomer, someone only known by Ishi."

The man in the suit completely stopped and stood still. "Ishi you say? Do you have an idea where he is based?"

The messenger nodded, "Yes, we have successfully identified the man to be living in a small recluse village. We believe he is a newcomer completely, he is known in legal business circles."

The man in the suit nodded, "Yes, Ishi is one of the top businessman in the export/import business. He even assures safe transport of the merchandise, a service that is often too costly to afford. I know him well. You are sure he has been making a foray in the illegal side of things?"

The messenger nodded, "I do, sir. We have information that the man is responsible for many hijacking of drug and other illicit merchandise that resurfaces later escorted by armed men to a new client. He has also started to organize raids on ports and factories to put pressure on our operation."

The man in the suit nodded with a sigh, "Very well. This is a hard situation for me, I know Ishi since we went to school together. Alas, I must do what is good for my operations. We're in a critical stage that we cannot be hampered by an old friend. I will however give him the curtesy of sending him a message. If he stops his operations immediately I will consider everything to be square."

He nodded once more to himself and poured himself a drink.

The messenger gulped, "And if he doesn't stop?"

The man in the suit drank a sip of the hard liquor, "Well if he doesn't, we are going to have to deal with him like we did many others."

 **A/N: Alright! This chapter was delayed a bit by finals and me moving, but that's not too bad. This is our first Interlude and so not our last. You can expect them to pop up from time to time to set up conflicts, characters or to simply give a more overall look aver the situation in the world.**

 **We are going to come back to Naruto next chapter, don't worry.**

 **I really enjoyed writing for Danzo, I've always found his character to be interesting.**

 **That's it for now folks, don't forget to leave a comment if you want, I read all of them and I love to hear back from my readers. If you have any questions you can adress me a PM, I usually answer quite quickly.**


	7. Proving Grounds

The Proving Grounds

The sun shined bright on the small clearing. The surrounding forest was blocking the wind, so an unnatural silence reigned. While the place was usually full of life and animals, it was as if they had all fled, maybe understanding that there would be a fight coming, a fight between master and student.

At least, that was what Yomiko liked to tell herself.

Puffing a strand of her hair away from her eyes, she looked at the small clearing once more. They had traveled quite far from home, escaping from all civilization to engage in the final battle.

She was a bit jealous to be relegated to a spectating role. After all, she was the older of the two trainees and had three months of training under her belt before Naruto had even entered her life. It should have been her that was fighting her father's right hand man in the clearing, not the child they had found alone on the side of the road.

Nonetheless, she understood more than anyone why it was Naruto that was there in the middle of the field instead of her. She had fought the guy enough time by now to know that they were not in the same playing field.

Naruto was simply better than her.

It was a simple fact, a fact that she had trouble swallowing for the past months as the distance between the two kept growing. It was as if something in Naruto was always pushing him to become better, to train, never allowing him to be lazy for a day. At first she had thought he felt like he owed it to her family, because they had saved him or something. But when she had seen his face, his determination when training in the rain, punishing his own body with repetitive training each day, she had understood something about Naruto that she knew her father had seen in him that day they had first met. This wasn't just any random kid on the side of the road. The boy was built out of pure mental strength and determination. If he set his mind to something, she knew he would do everything in his power to achieve it.

That was the reason why she believed that Naruto would be able to pass the exam.

Yomiko shivered at the thought of the exam. It wasn't some diabolical exercise or nothing of the sort, but it still terrified her. Before they were declared ready to serve for the family business, they had to prove their worth. It was quite simple how; they had to impress Ishi in a fight with The Chef, the man in charge of the protection of her father.

The Chef was a tall man in his late thirties. His build clearly showed a life of fighting, with multiple scars to tell the tale. His muscle-bound figure had always been in Yomiko's life since she could remember. She had always been intimidated by the rough looking man and his no-nonsense attitude in life. Simply put, he scared her.

However, now she was going to see her adoptive brother fight and she couldn't be giddier at the thought.

"Let's go Naruto! Show him what you're made of!" she screamed, her voice echoing in the silent clearing. Just beside her, her father slowly put his hand to his face and shook his head, mortified by Yomiko's exuberance. The Chef didn't react to her outburst, starting straight at Naruto, his emotions impossible to read.

Naruto turned around, a big toothy grin on his face as he waved to her. She laughed at his innocence. Even if the boy was stronger than her, he was still a kid and acted like one.

"Take him down! If you don't I'll take you down myself!" she threatened randomly.

Naruto rolled his eyes and gave her a thumbs-up, his eyes glinting.

Ishi coughed, gaining the attention of everyone, even the Chef, who glanced from Naruto to his old friend and boss.

"Alright, if everyone is ready, listen up!" Ishi called out. "The goal is to defeat your opponent. I will stop the fight when I have seen enough to judge Naruto on his performance. Remember, you are authorized to use dangerous attacks, but are discouraged to try and maim your opponent. That means you, Chef." Ishi added, looking intently at the veteran.

"Any questions?" Both fighters shook their heads. "Well then, let's begin!"

As soon as Ishi finished talking, both boy and man attacked. Naruto sent forward a small volley of kunai. However, his aim was off and most of the projectiles flew past Chef without him dodging.

The tall man drew his sword and used it to parry the small amount of kunai that were aimed correctly. The precision in his moves made Yomiko doubt Naruto for the first time.

Naruto used the time he had bought by going on the offensive, sending another volley of shuriken, more on target this time, while dashing forward.

Chef noticed and blocked the volley once more with his sword, his precise strokes of the blade deflecting all the shuriken. However, it served Naruto well as he managed to reach the man before he could place himself in a good position, forcing him to go on the defensive.

Naruto entered his Rock-Style stance, his back straight and both fists rose as if he was going to be boxing. His feet were wide, maintaining a perfect balance. Yomiko could see Ishi nodding approvingly in the corner of her eye.

Naruto sent a couple of jabs in Chef's direction that were blocked in extremis by his shoulder and elbows. Naruto followed the motions with a low kick, designed to send the man sprawling on the ground.

Chef simply tanked the hit, barely moving as the child kicked his leg with all the strength he could muster. Yomiko winced as she knew Naruto hit like a truck when he wasn't messing around. That had to hurt, even someone like Chef.

Chef, however, was an experienced military man. He used the hit and Naruto's surprise of the lack of reaction to regain control. He swung his blade in a wide arc, missing Naruto's neck by mere inches. The boy backed away in his characteristic back-flip, letting himself slide on the ground further as he landed.

Yomiko let out the breath she hadn't realized she held in. Chef was really brutal and he was experienced to say the least with a blade. "If Naruto doesn't get the sword out of Chef's hands, he's going to get cut up!"

Naruto, oblivious to Yomiko's train of thought, simply dashed forward once more. He tried to continue with basic standard attacks from the Rock-Style, but he was obligated to cancel his momentum and throw himself to the side, landing on his feet, to evade a precise strike of the blade. Naruto attacked once more, now entering what Yomiko had started to call 'Naruto's Free Form'. It was basically a mix of all the stupidest moves and random attacks Naruto often did. It was completely in opposition of the Rock-Style that Ishi had literally beaten into him, but it had the good point of being adaptable on the spot.

Naruto jumped up with a kick that Chef blocked easily with his arm. As the blade aimed for Naruto, he used his forward momentum to kick off the man, jumping further in the air before flipping over the Chef. He landed in a crouch before spinning on the ground, kicking Chef's feet out from under him. The man fell forward, but rolled on the ground to regain his footing. With a large arc of his sword he managed to cut off Naruto's follow-up attack.

Yomiko let out a small sigh of relief, but Naruto wasn't out of the woods yet. This attack was some of the hardest combination to defend against Naruto. It really sucked, because before you managed to flip around, which was an awkward move in itself, Naruto would either pummel you or knock you down and then pummel you.

However Naruto still had tricks up his sleeves. He grinned at Chef before charging once more straight at him. He launched a direct series of kicks, all the while dodging the sword strikes from Chef in the weirdest ways. He super kicked at Chef's chest, who simply swatted it aside causing Naruto to fall on the ground. Chef twirled his sword in his hand before slashing down to Naruto's laying form. However, just as the sword would hit Naruto, a small pop of smoke surrounded Naruto.

The sword pierced through the smoke, only for it to get stuck in a log of wood. Chef looked at the piece of wood, not really understanding what just happened, when he was hit with a haymaker from Naruto who had just dashed from the short distance he had switched places with.

The hit sent the large man scrambling to the ground, letting his sword go for the first time in the fight. However, before Naruto could even let out a whoop of joy, Chef was back on his feet, and instead of trying to force his sword out of the wood, he used it as a lever and lifted the whole log. Naruto visibly paled at the sight before throwing himself on the ground, evading the makeshift hammer that would have reduced him into a fine paste on the ground. The wood broke in two with the impact on the ground, letting the sword free.

Yomiko saw her father's frown matching hers; that attack had been a killing blow, if Naruto hadn't been able to evade it. Chef was fighting with the intent to kill, while Naruto obviously hadn't gone for any vital area when he could have.

Naruto however, hadn't said his last words. He rolled on the ground, before getting up and dashing forward once more. However, instead of trying another attack, he threw himself forward, his whole body leaving the ground. The Chef's unforgiving blade came up once more, aiming to the defenseless Naruto in the air.

'He's going to kill him!' thought Yomiko, panicking at the thought.

However, Naruto only smiled and twisted his body mid-air, turning toward the incoming sword. He caught it with one hand and brought it under his arm. With his whole weight now on the sword, he managed to tear the sword from the man's grasp.

Naruto landed on the ground, his bloodied hands clutching the blade. He rose to his feet, an enormous grin on his face.

Yomiko could only shake her head. "He's crazy," she muttered, her eyes fixing on the deeply cut hands of Naruto. The boy seemed to not take notice, for a good reason; they were already probably healing themselves, as did all of his injuries.

Ishi chuckled beside her, "Well, one thing is sure here; Naruto can literally make up shit and make it work against all logic."

Naruto grasped the handle of the sword in his hands before letting it fall to the ground with a wince; the boy had obviously forgot in his happiness that he had just cut both of his hands, causing Yomiko and Ishi to shake their heads in synchronisation.

Grinning through the pain, Naruto looked at Chef, pointing at him with his bloodied hand. "What are you going to do now without your sword?"

Chef only grunted, as he settled in a loose fighting form. Even Yomiko from her place on the sidelines could see the holes in the fighting stance. It was obvious Chef was trained in the art of the sword more than in the art of the fist.

Naruto only grinned and dashed forward, once more settling in the Rock-Style stance now that the threat of the sword was discarded. He reached Chef and batted the incoming punch aside, responding in kind with a strong kick to the chest, making the man loses his breath and takes a few steps backwards. Naruto pressed his advantage and continued to punch the man, using all the holes in the man's techniques to his advantage. His punches and kicks were precise and brutal, shaking the other man to his core. Chef's own strikes were all pushed aside, opening him to kicks and punches inside his guard.

Finally Chef took a few steps back as blood started to flow from the several cuts he had just taken to the face. Naruto's attacks had obviously shaken the man, enough for him to reconsider his opponent. Naruto grinned and stepped forward, settling in a more relaxed stance as he felt he had the advantage.

Yomiko almost screamed at him when she saw him relax and take a confident step forward, almost taunting the man in front of him. Chef didn't lose a single second. He snapped forward and punched Naruto straight in his jaw, knocking him to the ground, limp.

"You… God damn idiot," she said under her breath as she saw his limp form unmoving on the ground. The shadow of the great warrior waging war dissipated as soon as it came. He was still the bumbling idiot she had first met, the kid with the loud mouth without anything to back it up. If he had continued the offensive, he would have won the fight. But he decided to leave himself open to a seasoned warrior. He didn't even have the time to react to being knocked out. She looked beside herself to her father who was looking to the sky, a touch of disappointment evident in his eyes.

Ishi shook his head, "That is… disappointing. I was going to let him graduate when he managed to take the sword in such a selfless fashion. It was a beautiful move. But this… that was just sloppy." He sighed, passing a hand through his hair. "I'll call the fight; I don't think he's going to get up from that."

Yomiko nodded; there was no getting up from a direct hit from a monster like Chef. She shifted her eyes back on the battlefield where Chef was looking at them, his sword now back in its sheath on his side. She looked at Naruto's form.

Her eyes opened wide; Naruto wasn't there, or anywhere else on the battlefield either.

"Dad!" she said in an excited shout, bringing Ishi's attention back to the fight. At the same time, hands erupted from the ground and grabbed the ankles of Chef who simply looked down in confusion. The hands suddenly pulled the man down, leaving only his head above ground. Naruto was now standing tall, his whole body covered in dust, grinning as he stood above the buried man.

"Gotcha!" he said, laughing weakly.

Yomiko couldn't believe her eyes. Naruto had done it again. He had surmounted the odds and learned Ishi's technique without anyone else knowing.

"Holy shit," said Ishi, disbelieving, "I showed him a few pointers, thinking he would get back to me in a few months to know how to do the next part. I didn't think he would learn it by himself and devise a way to use it in a fight"

Yomiko simply started laughing; it really was too funny. The child they had picked up from the side of the road had turned out to be quite the surprise.

The same child that was jumping up and down, crying and holding his jaw at the same time as he laughed and screamed in happiness.

That settled the matter in her mind. She would train twice as hard as she had been doing. She couldn't let Naruto continue to barrel past her, leaving her in his trail. She had an honor to defend.

"Yomiko! Did you see that? I beat him!" shouted the happy boy, annoying the girl. She narrowed her eyes at the celebrating boy, who was completely oblivious of her thought process.

"Meh, it was an okay fight, but you almost got knocked out," she said, teasing him.

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"It was all a strategy, a plan to beat him easier!" Naruto insisted

Yomiko made a non-comittal noise, an eyebrow raised. "You getting knocked out was par of your strategy?"

Naruto paused before nodding, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Well that simply proves my point: you're the stupidest person alive," she said with a smile on her face.

She didn't have to wait long for the reaction. The boy's face took a long second before becoming indignant, a protesting shout coming from his mouth. Knowing he wasn't going to win any word contest, the boy surged forward toward Yomiko. She gulped as she made a small surprised noise before running away as fast as she could.

While she was better at him with anything that used the brain, she did not need an ass-kicking.

As she passed her father, running desperately away from her adoptive brother, she heard her father sigh, "I swear, sometimes I don't even know why I bother."

She turned and stuck her tongue out, grimacing at her father.

* * *

Naruto was terrified.

He wasn't a boy that scared easily. Hell, growing up in the same house as the devil known as Yomiko had hardened him to all sorts of situations and attacks. The only time he could remember being afraid was his last day in Konoha, and he couldn't remember that night very well any more.

Still, he would swap places with his younger self in an instant if it meant escaping this particular situation.

Ishi had finally, after a whole week of excuses and delays, put him in his first official work for the business. Naruto had been ecstatic to finally get the rest of his life underway, to go out and accomplish the promise he had taken with Ishi.

He had been charged to accompany a shipment to its destination, a close-by town.

His excitement had died down when he learned he was supposed to be chaperoned by Chef.

The same man he had previously knocked out.

The boy had made a point to evade the big man since their fight, expecting a retribution from him. After all, each time he beat Yomiko a bit too much, he would get caught in some sort of prank or other.

Being forced to untie a rope at his ankle while being suspended on the ceiling was the sort of situations that made Naruto naturally scared of his fellow trainee. She had an eye for trapping him in Lose-Lose situations.

Now, as he walked beside the man in complete silence, only the rhythm of their pace and the sound of the small chariot containing the shipment, he was even considering attacking him straight on, because then he would be sure of what the man would do.

"Look ahead. Stop focusing so much on the road. Always think to check your surroundings." Chef's gravelly voice cut through the thick silence, making Naruto literally jump in the air at the sound, scaring the wits out of him. The man didn't even acknowledge the boy's surprise.

"Y-Yes sir," said Naruto as he worked to catch his breath and slow down his heart.

"This is the first lesson of many. Being alert is often the difference between being dead and being alive."

Naruto nodded, his fears a bit tamed, "You think we might be attacked?"

The man didn't offer any reaction at the question for a while. He eventually glanced at Naruto with an impassible look that served to calm down Naruto's fears a bit.

"In this sort of job, there is always a chance of being attacked. There are three avenues where an attack could come from and you must be aware of all three.

"When escorting products or people, the one thing you must watch out for the most is the ambush. These are easy to do; they give the opponent the initiative and the element of surprise. A successful ambush is quick and efficient, confusing the enemy and striking in many vital points at the same time before the opposition can organize. The only way to counter an ambush is to sniff them out beforehand and attack their position. It reverses the roles and lets us get them unguarded where we might do even more damage than they would."

Naruto nodded surprised. He hadn't thought Chef would be that well versed in this type of strategy. He had always figured his strategy was to hit everything in front of him until it stopped moving and simply charge on.

"Where did you learn all that about ambushes and stuff?" asked Naruto.

The big man made a small noise that Naruto interpreted as him being either amused or annoyed. He preferred to think it was amused.

"Kid, I've been fighting since before your dad grew hair on his balls," Chef explained. "Let me tell you, people often will underestimate the older fighters. Don't. There is a reason they are still alive while most of their allies are buried and forgotten. Doubly so for ninja. You see a grandpa with a headband? Run before he summons a meteorite out of the sky or some shit."

Naruto carefully noted the comment in his head; he had no intention to fight someone who could reliably summon meteorites out of the sky.

"Does this means that Ishi is really, really strong?" asked Naruto.

The man now let out a real laugh, as if the kid had made the funniest joke in the world, "Kid, I'm about fifty percent sure you are stronger than him already."

Before Naruto could argue in favor of Ishi, the man continued on. "He fights well, and yes, he is pretty strong. I'd say in a fight hand to hand with me, he'd be a challenge. Thing is, he hasn't exactly been super dedicated to fighting. He's a businessman who knows how to fight, not a fighter per se. He's still pretty good, especially since he puts that brain of his to good use. But yeah, don't rely on him too much."

Naruto frowned as he heard this. That couldn't be right, could it? He had seen Ishi as he fought the bandits and he had thoroughly destroyed them. He couldn't exactly imagine a world where Ishi was weak.

A long and loud noise broke the relative silence that had installed itself between the man and the boy. Naruto immediately looked up to Chef. His face was as impassible as it had been before, but he could see the tension in the man's muscles as he checked the road ahead with sharp eyes.

From the cover of the trees, a group of bandits ran to the road in front of them. Naruto could immediately see that these bandits were in pretty bad shape. Most of the men in front of them wore tattered clothes. Their inexistent armor was also a pretty big evidence of their class. He saw that a couple of them were armed, most with clubs, but one had a short sword.

Chef spoke up, his voice guarded and serious, "Alright kid, let's see what you can do in a real fight."

As soon as he uttered those words, the bandits charged forward, a war cry coming from the leader of the bunch, the one with the sword.

The first two ran directly at Chef, who didn't even draw his sword. Instead he easily evaded their hits and grabbed both of their heads, knocking them together in a crunching noise that left chills up Naruto's spine.

He averted his attention as another bandit reached him. The man launched a punch weakly at Naruto that the boy had no trouble batting aside. The man was unbalanced enough to leave a giant opening that Naruto pressed immediately. He punched the man in the stomach, folding him in two and leaving him gasping on the ground.

Naruto stared down at the man in shock. Were the bandits playing at being weak, or were they really that bad? The man had telegraphed his attack so much, Naruto was pretty sure a baby would have seen it coming. He hadn't been able to handle even a single punch?

The next one arrived at Naruto and, seeing his friend on the ground, hesitated to attack the boy. Naruto took the opportunity to strike a single blow to the man's throat, knocking him to the ground as well.

He looked over to see Chef deftly skewer a bandit with his sword while hitting another with a sharp elbow, fracturing his jaw.

He saw two people run at him simultaneously and gave them his attention. The two had clubs and looked a bit cleaner, so Naruto surmised that they were probably higher ups.

The two men swung their bats at the same time, aiming for Naruto's head. The boy ducked down and gave a rotating low kick, sweeping one man's feet from under him. He then threw a kunai straight at the other man, thinking he would evade it by ducking. He readied his knee to catch him as he did.

The man never ducked.

For once, Naruto's throw was on point, the kunai entering the man's throat in an horrible gurgling sound. Naruto watched as the man helplessly tried to grab his throat as blood came pouring out before falling on the ground, still making the gurgling sounds.

Naruto was so completely focused on the dying man that he never saw the other bandit raise his club and swing. He only saw it a split second before it hit him, and he couldn't move fast enough.

The blow hit him straight on the head, knocking him to the ground. His vision was blurry and his head throbbing. He felt blood come out of his scalp. He turned his head, making his whole vision sway, looking at the man now standing over him, who was raising his bat again. Naruto wouldn't be able to move, his body not answering his vital command to flee.

A giant hand connected to the man's head, sending him on the ground further, his neck in a weird angle. It was Chef, who stood over Naruto with urgency in his eyes as he glanced at the downed boy.

His voice was sharp and harsh as he shouted at the boy, "Get up! Get up or you will die!"

Naruto got to his feet shakily as his vision stabilized. He looked as the giant man threw a bandit to the ground, his spine snapping as he landed. Naruto flinched visibly at the sound of the man's life ending.

Chef pushed Naruto lightly, enough to shake the boy out of his lethargy. "Get out of your head kid."

The boy looked at the giant man for a few seconds before nodding. This wasn't the time to think about what had just happened. This was the time to act and to fight. He had to prove himself capable, or else Ishi would probably never let him on another mission for a long while.

He charged forward, his hands balled up into fists. He looked around and saw that most of the remaining bandits were trying to mount an attack on Chef.

A useless plan of action to be sure.

He saw that four bandits were standing at the edge of the fight. Two of them had clubs and the leader with the sword was there. Naruto charged at them, his mind completely in fighting mode. The unarmed one tried to cut his charge off by making one of his own, but Naruto simply ducked below the man's fist and hit him in the ribs, cracking a couple. He strode forward as he came to the two armed with clubs.

He fished out two shuriken from his pouch and threw them to the men's thighs. Again, his aim was true.

The two bandits almost dropped their weapons, their hands going straight to their wounds. They both let out pained grunts. Naruto used the opening to jump in the air and do exactly what he had seen Chef do at the beginning of the fight. He grabbed the head of each bandit and tried to knock them together.

However, where Chef was a large strong man, Naruto was but a small child. He managed to knock the head together, but the blow was too light, only making them wince in pain. The one on the right was obviously a better fighter than most of the others. He grabbed Naruto's shirt and threw him to the ground. He landed with a small grunt on his back.

As soon as he landed, he was already in movement, before the two men had even started to press their attack. He pushed with his arm on the ground and flipped backwards, landing on his feet. He twirled and aimed a high kick to the man's thorax. The man grunted loudly before falling on his side, his hands grasping at his stomach.

The other bandits swung wildly with his club. He completely missed Naruto by more than a foot. The boy simply stepped to the man and punched him between the legs, effectively knocking him out with a whimper.

Now Naruto was left alone with the leader of the group. The man was pretty short, with skinny arms. He wasn't intimidating in any way, especially when compared to Chef. Still, something in his eyes made Naruto more wary about him than he had been about the others. The strange look was one of danger and madness.

He saw the same look in Yomiko's eyes when she was trying to trap him.

The bandit leader raised his sword almost lazily, looking at the blade as if to check its state.

"You're a bit young to be on a battlefield, runt," said the man in a deep voice Naruto would have associated with Chef before him.

The boy was almost insulted. "I'm old enough to be a ninja and to kick your ass."

The man simply started to laugh, "A ninja? Runt, you're nothing better than a spot of dirt under my shoe. Don't try and get grand ideas. Ninjas don't escort carts, they wage war, kill nobles and all of that high-brow stuff. You're merely a tool that your employer wanted to discard."

Now Naruto was starting to get angry. "Yes a ninja! I'll beat you to prove it, just like I beat all of your friends!"

The man simply grinned creepily at Naruto. "Then come child, I need to take care of your friend after we're finished."

Naruto didn't wait for more encouragement. He charged the man straight on, taking a kunai from his pouch. He threw it directly at the man's body.

Sadly, his aim was back to being poor and he missed by a large margin. Naruto frowned as the blade disappeared behind the leader. The man's smile became larger as he saw Naruto's aim. He shifted in position to better use his sword.

Naruto arrived at the man, and as he had done with Chef in their fight, he put himself in the Stone-Style, immediately grounding himself and engaging in direct strikes.

The man was not as capable as Chef with his sword, but he was still dangerous. He slashed at Naruto, who ducked underneath. They traded blows and counter-attacks, neither landing much.

Naruto finally took a step and committed his punch, nailing the man in the stomach. The leader winced at the blow but grabbed Naruto's wrist, trapping him in an awkward position. He swiped the blade towards the boy, aiming for his body.

Naruto wasted no time and jumped in the air, using the grasp the man had on his wrist as a lever and threw both his feet at the man's face.

The bandit leader ate both feet directly to his face, knocking him to the ground. Naruto landed hard, his back throbbing at the landing.

"I'm gonna have to practice landing that one in the future," he grumbled as he picked himself up, still in position to fight.

The other man was picking himself up also, blood escaping from his mouth. When he talked, his voice was mumbled, as if articulating was particularly hard right now. "You just broke my jaw, you dick."

The man had trouble standing up, using the sword to better distribute his weight. Naruto's double hit had clearly knocked his bell.

Naruto didn't give the man the chance to recuperate. Diving toward the man, he crouched on the ground just under the man and jumped up, landing an uppercut directly under the man's chin.

The bandit leader fell backwards to the ground, knocked out.

Naruto looked at the knocked out man, a feeling of pride welling up in his heart. He had done it, he had proved to the leader that he was a real ninja. He hadn't even been hit by the man.

As soon as the proud feeling emerged from his heart, it was squashed by guilt and the horrible feeling he had felt earlier coming back. He could still see clearly the dying man from earlier in his head, the man's hands at his throat.

He had killed someone.

Naruto threw up on the ground as tears started to flow from his eyes. The horribleness of ending someone's life was something that Naruto hadn't expected. He hadn't known that people died this way. No, that's not true. He did know. The thought simply hadn't ever been something he had really cared about until he saw it for himself.

A weight landed on his shoulder, causing the boy to tense up, expecting an attack he hadn't seen.

Instead, as he whirled around, he saw the face of Chef. He had a couple of cuts to his face, but was clearly still well. The man looked at the crying boy before glancing backwards at the dead man. Naruto followed the man's eyes and threw up again.

Chef raised him up from the ground without gentleness. He looked directly in Naruto's eyes and his grave voice broke through Naruto's stupor.

"Don't react like that. Don't cry about killing a man. It's unnecessary and idiotic."

Naruto shook his head, "I don't ever want to do it again. It's so horrible, I-"

Chef slapped him. Hard.

"What did you think this was, the schoolyard? Ninjas are taught to kill. They are weapons designed to kill. Killing is a part of the job, a job that you requested I might add. It's going to be difficult for a while, but it'll get easier with time."

Naruto barely nodded. It was obvious he had been shell-shocked by the revelation of the violence of his world.

"Listen kid, I'll give it to you straight," said Chef. "We are not good people." Naruto looked up to the man as if he had slapped him again.

"You and me, we're bastards," Chef continued. "We're the people that kill others because that's the thing we know how to do well. You can tell yourself a lot of noble shit if you want, about morals and not wanting to do it. But the fact of the matter is, you're going to have to kill again and again. You'll have to kill people you don't know, for reasons you don't know. You better make your peace with it."

"How?" asked Naruto. He couldn't see how he would ever get used to kill people.

Chef sighed. "Everyone has their ways. Some stash their feelings. Others enjoy it. Me, I ignore it. It's a part of the job, like the others. If my foes live or die, it makes no difference to me."

Naruto held back a sob, his voice choking on his next sentence. "How can people even live like that? How can they be so…uncaring?"

Chef put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"My first captain told me once, after a particularly bloody battle, that the only two ways a man could not go crazy at all the killing that are required in our job was to either be completely sociopathic or to create yourself a reason to explain it. He told me that night that every time he killed, he did it with his wife in mind. Her smile and her warmth made it all worth it to him."

"How about you?" asked Naruto, looking up to him.

Chef smiled sadly at the boy. "For me, everything is about the mission. If killing is a part of a mission or necessary to it, I do not care. I always thrive to defeat my enemies whenever they get between me and the mission.

"I would recommend that you find something in your life that is so precious you would never betray it. Whenever you'll have to kill, you'll be able to understand that it is only an action to make you progress towards your goal. If that something precious is people, ask yourself this: would you rather tarnish yourself by killing enemies, or would you rather see your precious people do it themselves and maybe die? Would you take that chance?"

That statement struck a cord in Naruto's mind. He could scarcely imagine seeing Yomiko having to do what he did. Maybe Ishi wouldn't have any qualms about it. But people killing or perhaps dying for him...no. He wouldn't allow that to happen.

Naruto nodded and picked himself up.

I think I understand, he thought to himself. I need to find my precious people and protect them. Just like I need to achieve your dream, Old Man.

* * *

"That's… unexpected," said Ishi as his eyes bored into Chef.

The big man didn't look uncomfortable under the stare, only nodding in response. "I agree," said the giant. "I didn't think about him having such a problem with the violence of the work."

Ishi couldn't help but think that it had been his fault. He should have thought about this when he trained the boy. A freak-out like the one that happened in the mission can't ever happen again.

"You handled it well, Chef," Ishi said. "If you hadn't been there, he would have been a goner."

Chef only shrugged and said, "It was nothing. I like the kid. He has a fire in him when he fights that's interesting to see."

Ishi couldn't help but nod at that. Naruto had progressed at a lightning fast pace, continuously improving. Hell, he wasn't sure who'd win in a fight between himself and Naruto. The boy's drive, the thing that he had seen that fateful night was still as intact as before, his determination to the unknown goal only growing stronger every day.

"You know he's going to leave eventually, right?" asked Chef, carefully looking at Ishi.

Ishi nodded silently. As much as he liked Naruto, he knew the boy wouldn't be satisfied with being a glorified body-guard for a long time. He would hit a wall that Ishi wouldn't be able to breach eventually.

The boy had become a son to him and a brother to Yomiko. It would be heart wrenching when the time for him to go would come.

His eyes dropped from Chef to the letter on the table.

"There's another reason I made you come here," said Ishi. Chef waited patiently for his employer to begin explaining.

"An old… acquaintance has uncovered our little side-business here."

Chef straightened in his chair, almost like he was at attention. That was one thing Ishi liked about his old friend, he was as dependable as he was big.

"That's bad," said Chef.

Ishi nodded. "Apparently he operates a pretty big crime syndicate in the region. Our operations are cutting into his. He gives us three months to retract from all further operations before he'll take matters into his own hands."

Chef scratched his beard. "We always knew we weren't going to be able to do this in impunity."

Ishi stayed silent.

Starting to delve into criminal operations had been a tough choice, but it ultimately had been the right decision for his family. It had been the only way he would have been able to provide for a new child, a strain on the family resources, and a non-working wife. With Chef's support, they had attacked known smuggler spots and made themselves the only smuggling option for most criminal organizations. It was, as Chef said, inevitable that they had made some enemies along the way.

He would have just hoped it hadn't come from an ex-Iwa ninja.

 **Alright folks, we're back at it! This has been a while cooking for some reasons, mostly, I was not satisfied on how it was turning out. Writing fighting scenes without killing the beat of the story is pretty god-damn hard to do. Hope I did a good enough job. This is the chapter where things will start to (finally) get interesting in terms of action and story and in terms of writing. The first few chapters were mostly trying to get to a place where I could start to develop a bit more on either characters or the plot. This is the place we start working on it!**

 **I want to thank my wonderful Beta, AuthorOfTheUniverse2401 for his precious input on the story. Having a foil to reflect ideas on me is really something that makes a writer better.**

As always, leave a review or a PM for questions, comments or other stuff. I should be back sooner than later, until then, enjoy!

Edit: One Day, I'll manage to not fuck up as I upload these things. One day...


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